This week, our 6th grade scientists created a human size food web of the Great Lakes ecosystem. This allowed the scientists to understand and explain predator/prey relationships within the food web, as well as the indirect and direct relationships between the different organisms within our food web.

Even more interesting, our scientists got to experience what happens to an ecosystem when a disease strikes and wipes out a population of organisms within that ecosystem. In our food web, the yellow perch population got eliminated from our food web, which had some type of impact on almost all of the organisms within our web!

Ask your scientist about science this week and what organism populations they represented in our giant food web!

After Thanksgiving break, we will begin to write our next scientific explanation about what caused the trout population to decline in the Great Lakes.

Stay tuned!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Gev. McAdams

5th Science:

Wow! The scientists in 5th grade have been discovering so much throughout the past week! Our experiments are in full swing and the scientists have been doing a great job keeping their experiments fair, checking in on them daily, and making detailed observations based on what they are noticing.

Take a look at some of their experiments below and make sure you ask your child or children about what they are noticing in their experiment over the weekend!

Along with this, we have started to investigate mold further.

Here is what we have figured out about mold SO FAR…

• Mold is a living organism called fungi
• Mold is formed from spores
• Mold grows and survives especially well in warm environments where there is moisture and nutrients
• The color and texture of mold depends on its environment, what it is growing on, and the type of nutrients it’s getting.

Yesterday, as a class we started discussing what happens to food when mold begins to grow on it. I asked the scientists the following question…

When mold starts to grow on a strawberry will the strawberry…

• Weigh less?
• Weigh more?
• Weigh the same?

5 of our scientists thought it would weigh less, 4 of our scientists thought it would weigh more, and 1 scientist thought it would weigh the same, which lead us to our next experiment!

As a class of scientists we decided that maybe if we tested the weight of something before it molded and then tested the weight of it after it molded we would be able to figure out which scientists were correct in their prediction!

So that is of course what we did! Throughout this process, we also realized that our food sample needed to be kept in an airtight container.

Why? Because we discovered that AIR HAS MASS (ask your scientist(s) at home about our balloon experiment), so our food sample has to be in a closed container because air could affect our data results!

Stay tuned for more of our 5th grade scientists findings!

5th Math:

We are halfway through our next 5th grade math unit where our mathematicians are learning all about decimals and how to add and subtract them!

Shown below are all of the ‘I Can’ statements the mathematicians will be able to show and explain by the end of our unit.

Ask your mathematician(s) about what we have learned so far at home!

I have been so impressed with their engagement and participation throughout this unit so far!

I love learning with and from them 🙂

Have a great weekend,

Gev. McAdams

This week, 6th scientists used what they learned from our lab of testing different foods for fats, carbohydrates, and protein to prove that water is not a food in their first scientific explanation of the year.

6th scientists will continue to practice writing scientific explanations often this year.

Ask your child their evidence and reasoning behind why water is not a food over the weekend!

Here is an example of one of 6th grade scientist’s explanations below:

Is Water a Food? CER Practice

Stay Warm,

Gev. McAdams

WOOHOO! SPECIAL FRIEND DAY!!

On Friday, November 22, we will be hosting an all-school Special Friend Day from 7:45am – 9:45am for 3K-8th grades.

During Special Friend Day, every student at MJDS (grades 3K-8) chooses an adult who is special in their life to spend the morning with them.

Please submit the information for your child’s special friend here so invitations can be sent ASAP.

I am looking forward to meeting each child’s special friend 🙂

Have a great weekend,

Gev. McAdams